As the sun continues to shine in our area and the temperatures
continue to climb, many homemakers in our area are turning their
thoughts to spring cleaning.

At one home on South Maple there is probably another type of cleaning
going on - perhaps it could be called "The Thirty-Five Year Spring
Summer Fall Winter" clean!

Area author, Pauline Diede, accepted the challenge of collecting
the hundreds of articles that she has written throughout the years,
reading them and segregating them into various categories. Some
will be sent to the library at the North Dakota State University
in Fargo; some may be donated to the Hebron Historical and Art Society;
others may be used for books which she may compile in the future.

Mrs. Diede has been involved with writing for many years. She
has been employed on a part-time basis at The Hebron Herald for
thirty-five years. For twenty-five years she gathered local news
items for the newspaper, giving her an opportunity to become acquainted
with many people in our community which opened many doors to her
for opportunities for personal interviews. She especially enjoyed
talking to and writing about area pioneers, which grew to be her
specialty.

The majority of her articles tell of pioneer times - including
the sacrifices people made, their lifestyles, the drama - many things
that may teach lessons to us and to future generations.

She diligently saved copies of each article that she wrote, saving
them in cardboard boxes that she has stored away. But during this
past long and very cold winter she made it her goal to go through
each of the boxes, reading each of the stories, and segregating
them into different categories.

So after you climb the stairs to the second story in her home
you find piles upon piles of articles, some of the newsprint turning
yellow with age. But ... each has been recently read, and each put
into `the correct pile' where it belongs.

It has been a big job and lots of work but I also enjoyed the
hours that it took, re-reading each word - always with this wish,
"Never to garbage the mess that has a valuable message!" she stated.

Pauline has been a member of the North Dakota Press Women and
the National Federation of Press Women for 35 years where she has
earned many writing awards. She has also written five books relating
to the early days in the hilly prairie land of western North Dakota.
During this Lenten season she has taken on a special writing project.

She owns a placard that states, "Blessed Are They Who Clean Up!"
She isn't sure if she will be blessed for the work she is now going
through, but knows that she will consider it a blessing when she
completes this huge project that has also turned into a labor of
love!

Reprinted with permission of the Hebron Herald, Herbron,
North Dakota

Permission
to use any images from the GRHC website may be requested
by contacting Michael
M. Miller